Collapsible chair



(Ne Model) L. G. BEERS & H. E-BERHARDTa GOLLAPSIBLE 0mm.

No. 584,070. Patented June 8,1897.

Eva/273% UNITED STATES PATENT FFlCE,

LOUIS G. BEERS AND HENRY EBERHARDT, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASS-IGN- ORSTO THE GILBERT & BENNETT MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF

GEORGETOWN, CONNECTICUT.

COLLAPSIBLE CHAlR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 584,070, dated June 8,1897'. Application filed June 12, 1895. Serial N0. 552,514. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, LOUIS Gr. BEER-S and HENRY EBERHARDT, citizens ofthe United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and Stateof Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in C01-lapsible Chairs, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in {O collapsible or knockdownchairs and settees and that class of such structures which are made ofmetal and are generally used for lawns or-outdoors; and it consists incertain peculiarities of the construction, novel ar- 5 rangement, andoperation of the various parts thereof, as will be hereinafter morefully set forth and specifically claimed.

The objects of our invention are, first, to provide a collapsible chairwhich shall be simple and inexpensive in construction and strong anddurable; second, such a chair which by reason of its peculiar formationand the novel arrangements of its parts may be readily knocked down ortaken apart, so that 2 5 the same may be placed into a compact packageor form for shipment, and, third, a chair or settee the supporting-legsof which shall be of such a shape and so constructed as to afford thegreatest degree of strength from a '50 minimum amount of material.

In order to enable others skilled in the art to which our inventionpertains to make and use the same, we will now proceed to describe it,referring to the accompanying drawings,

5 in which- Figure l is a view in side elevation of a chair or setteeembodying our invention. Fig. 2 is a similar view of the rear partthereof. Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional View taken on line 3 3 of Fig. 1,showing a portion of the supporting-frame and one of the rods of theseatframe secured thereto. Fig. 4 is a detail view in elevation of aportion of one of the supporting-legs, showing the manner of securingthe brace-bar, arm, or back of the chair thereto; and Fig. 5 is asectional view taken on line 5 of Fig. 2, showing the method of unitingthe vertical an d horizontal portions of the back of the chair.

Similar letters refer to like parts throughout the dilferent views ofthe drawings.

A represents the supporting-legs of the chair or settee, which legs aremade of material substantially T-shaped in cross-section, as shown inFig. 3 of the drawings, which figure illustrates the horizontal portionA, which unites the front and rear legs at their tops, the said legs andhorizontal portion being preferably made of one piece of material andmitered, as at a, in order that the legs maybeturned down at rightangles, as shown. The lower portion of the ribs a of the legs is cutaway in order that the web or broad portions 0. of the T-shaped materialof which the legs are constructed may be bent, as shown 6 5 in Fig. 1,to form broad or fiat feet a which will prevent the chair or scttee fromsinking into the ground, and the upper portion or top of the curl ofthis bend rests beneath the out away portion of the rib, as shown,whereby the bent portion a is prevented from coiling upon itself under aheavy weight.

The upper portion of the supporting-frame is provided with brace-barsZ), which are secured at one of their ends to the ribs a of 7 5 the legsand at their other ends to the ribs of the horizontal portions A, thusfirmly securing the front and rear legs together in pairs. To the upperpart of the supporting-frame and at each side thereof is secured anarmpiece B, which is also preferably formed 0t T-shaped material and hasthe rib a thereof at its lower portion cut away in order to allow theflange, web, or broad part a to rest against the corresponding part ofthe front 85 leg, to which it. is detachably secu red by means of screws0 and n uts c,which screws are passed through suitable openings in theweb or broad part a of the arm-piece B and front leg, the rib a of saidleg being provided with recesses o 0 for the reception of the nuts 0,and which recess is of too little depth beyond the tip of the screw topermit the nut from falling off of the same if it should become loose,as seen in Fig. 4. The upper portion of each of the 9 5 arm-piecesB isbent rearwardly and is secured at its end to the upright standard C ofthe back of the chair by means of a strap (1,

fastened with a screw or bolt d to the rib of the arm-piece. The back ismade of a rod 0, bent in the shape of an inverted U, havin g its lowerends somewhat flattened in order that the same may be fastened to therear legs by means of screws 0 and nuts 0 in a manner similar to themethod of securing the arm-pieces to the front legs. The lower portionof the back is braced by means of a horizontal rod 0, which extends fromone upright C to the other and is bent therearound, as is clearly shownin Figs. 2 and 5 of the drawings.

Extending from the upper part of one of the legs to the like part of theother leg at the front and rear of the chair or settee, and usually bymeans of the screws 0 and .nuts 0, used for securing the lower portionsof the back and arm-pieces, are secured horizontal bars D, which bracethe legs laterally at the front and rear of the chair. To the bars 1)and at about their middle are detachably secured bracebars d, which arelikewise secured at their lower ends to the outer portions or webs a ofthe supporting-legs by means of screws 0 and nuts 0', the latter beingset in the recesses c of the ribs of the legs. The frame of the chairbeing thus united it remains to furnish the same with a seat, which iscomposed of a rod E bent into a rectangular shape or suitable form tocover the top of the supporting-frame and is provided wit-h strips offlattened metal 8, which are interlaced in the same manner as shown inFig. 2

of the drawings and are similarly secured to the frame or rod E by beingbent around the same at their ends. The seat-frame, or rod E, composingthe same, is secured to the horizontal portions A of thesupporting-frame by means of hooks F, which have their shanks passedthrough suitable openings gin the web or broad portion of said piecesand secured to the ribs thereof by means of screws 0 and nuts 0. Thesehooks F extend over the rod or seat-frame E, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3,and firmly hold the same in place, causing it to rest on the strips 2,which, as before stated, are bent around under the same.

The legs A are preferably slightly curved outwardly, as shown in Fig. 1of the drawings. in order to form a broader base and also with a View ofobtaining greaterstrength through the medium of the ribs to, which arethus presented substantially vertically and edgewise to the weight onthe chair. Another advantage obtained by the use of our T-shaped legs isthat the ribs a, provided with the recesses e for the nuts, permit ofthe openings in the webs or broad parts a for the screws being formedwithout any material loss in the strength of the legs, as would occur ifsaid shaped legs were not used.

From the foregoing and by reference to the drawings it will be seen andreadily understood that by removing the brace-bars D and cl at the frontand rear of the chair and detaching the arm-pieces l3 and back 0 fromthe chair and one another, the supporting frame and the seat-frame Eonly will be left in a set-up position, when by removing the hooks Fsaid seat-frame may be detached from the supporting-frame, thus allowingthe two pair of legs to be placed together and the other parts of thechair laid thereon or into a small package ready for transportation.

Having thus fully described our invention. what we claim as new, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

A supporting piece or leg formed of material T-shaped in cross-sectionand presenting the rib thereof edgewise and vertically, and the broadportion or web on the outer edge of said rib, the web and rib beingprovided with openings and recesses respectively for screws and nuts forsecuring other parts to the leg or supporting-piece, and the recessbeyond the screw being narrower than the thickness of the nut, the lowerportion of the rib being cut away, and the lower part of the web bent toform broadened feet, the upper part of the curled or bent portions ofthe web resting beneath and against the cut-away portions of the ribs,substantially as described.

LOUIS G BEERS. HENRY EBERITARDT.

Witnesses:

UHAs. O. TILLMAN, E. A. DUGGAN.

